As far as I'm concerned, the snow isn't as bad as the week of below freezing temperatures that preceded it. At least my garden is getting moisture.

I'm in the Twin Cities. Two weeks ago, it seemed as if spring had arrived. The shaded garden bed on north side of my house had thawed at least eight inches deep. Beds in full sun had thawed more than a couple of feet down. Worms were coming up and doing their thing. And then we had a week-long cold snap. Not just a hard frost, but days in which the temps stayed below freezing, and a few low temps in the teens. Throughout my gardens, the topsoil is frozen again.

This is what I wished a player had said: "Don Imus shouldn't be fired. He was simply parroting and making fun of, a completely dysfunctional culture in our society that degrades women. I know he wasn't personally attacking me, he was, mimicking the hateful voices that are too prevalent in our society. If we truly condemn such language, we should address the source, not the parrot."

I keep expecting newspapers and TV newscasts to now carry some sort of banner announcing: "America Held Hostage By The Imus Controversy: Day 8 . . ."

I knew the Imus story had overstayed its welcome when I was watching the network news shows this morning and found myself saying, "Ooh, look. There's new Anna Nicole news!"

Multitudes have weighed in on Imus' "nappy-headed ho's" comment: the Black Journalists' Association, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, the Rutgers women's basketball coach, the Rutgers women's basketball team, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani, etc. Pretty much everybody has been interviewed on the topic, but has anybody bothered to get a reaction from any actual ho's? For all we know, they're upset about being associated with college basketball players.

l'Althouse, I bet you're overjoyed by the quality of poster you have attracted to this thread. Imus'statement is a statement against all women. A Cal basketball player said it best when she explained that every woman has to deal with the "beauty thing," but basketball was a place where she was free, at least when she was playing. Bringing the "beauty thing" into basketball corrupts a beautiful free experience for women athletes.

Also, it was the national championship game. Rutgers, against all odds, had gotten to the final. They were beaten, but were still blessed with a wonderful season that has been corrupted by the rank comments of an all too self-important shock jock, who finally took the shocking too far. I am looking for the sponsors to have the final say.

Ernie: I can't understand what you are saying to me. I haven't said what Imus said is okay. I'm just bored by all the outrage over it. He apologized. The women aren't traumatized. They're strong athletes who can call him an asshole, mock him, and get on with their strong, powerful lives.

"blessed with a wonderful season that has been corrupted by the rank comments"

I mean what sentimental garbage! It's only all this outrage and horning in by all the outrage mongers that their great success is getting linked to that stupid old man. They should say screw him and enjoy their wonderful season. One dumb remark "corrupts" what they have? You assume absurd weakness in them. (I'm offended!) I don't believe they are so susceptible to feeling life is spoiled.

Had the team been predominantly white from an Appalachian school and he referenced red-neck culture, " do ya think they have any teeth" would anyone have cared? This country is too race sensitive, the only racist spectacle is the outrage by the race-baiters.

If they are, it's because they've bought into the whole Aren't you a victim! meme that underlies all the outrage peddlers. I'd also be astonished if basketball players who survive trash talk go all weak in the knees 'cause of what some dumb ol' white guy says.

Fritz: The biggest problem with your Imus fantasy is that he wasn't making fun of those words, he was making fun of some women he didn't know except for the fact that they were young black women. His statement was only a bigoted joke at those young women's expense.

And Ann: It's a little rich to talk of moving along when you flip out over someone even mentioning a controversy about you.

It's clearly the blahs resulting from leaving Texas. Austin, especially, is such a blast of color, art, and festivity that one tends to experience these withdrawals upon leaving. I'm sorry you had to find out this way. ;)

Invisible,Why is it, that African American culture creates a stereotype of poor urban blacks, a white guilt liberal buys-in, makes disparaging remarks using the Hip Hop cultural aspect, and then is called a racist? Don Imus is white, that is the only racism in this farce.

I know you don't like to take requests for things to blog about, but how about your thoughts on the Biskupic/Georgia Thompson mess? (I also know the story came out last week while you were vacationing).

It was snowing here today too. Blechhh! I was just working up to a roaring case of spring fever a couple of weeks ago, with highs in the 70's and 80's. Respooling my fishing reels, trying to get the lawnmower started, cleaning out the flowerbeds, sorting through my summer clothes, all that stuff you do when it seems like winter is finally behind you. Then we had a week of lows in the twenties and now everything is dead again.

When you surrender to the ennui don't forget to pour yourself a glass of wine before retiring to the sofa.

They should say screw him and enjoy their wonderful season. One dumb remark "corrupts" what they have? You assume absurd weakness in them. (I'm offended!) I don't believe they are so susceptible to feeling life is spoiled.

For someone who spends much of her blogging career resurrecting and reacting to every perceived slight and having a coniption fit every time a left wing blogger says something mean about you, you sure are quick to encourage others "to suck it up and just get over it".

Fritz: Isn't it funny how you never hear of Hard Rock or Erotic Art or Porn as White Culture? That shows what a small amount of time you've ever considered African-Americans, in that we can be summed up because a bunch of kids make money off of rapping. Hip-Hop is a culture but it is not synonymous with African-American culture.

First, if you've ever seen studies on Hip-Hop you would know that 60% of it is purchased by young white men and women. Secondly, while it does have an influence, it doesn't dictate how I or most African-American men treat their women. Many like myself who grew up listening to groups like De La Soul and Tribe Called Quest (which I don't expect you to know) rail against the misogyny and violence that is in too much of the music today. The fact that you so easily identify a whole race of people because of the music that some listen to only shows your ignorance and willingness to only look at the worst of what African-American culture is. It's a shame that to many are just to ignorant to see individuals instead of just a bunch of black people

you sure are quick to encourage others "to suck it up and just get over it".

Why is that in quotes? Did I miss the original?

Seems to me the key bit in Ann's response wasn't "suck it up" but instead say "screw him" and then move on. It is a choice to be a victim in this case and I think we would all applaud any one of these ladies if just one of them were to speak their mind and tell off Imus in the words he deserves.

We're all a little disappointed, I think, that they are being corralled in to a victimhood status instead of being the strong women they most certainly are, and almost certainly able to dish out whatever has been tossed at them.

Ann does not play the "woe is me" victim but instead goes on an active defense. It's not like Imus took away their ipods or something terrible like that. Where's the strength? Where's the attitude that helps them win on the basketball court? Or did Imus expose Tennessee's secret weapon? Maybe while on the court the Lady Vols through mean words and suggestive remarks upset Rutgers' self-esteem and thus rendered them incapable of winning.

For someone who spends much of her blogging career resurrecting and reacting to every perceived slight and having a coniption fit every time a left wing blogger says something mean about you, you sure are quick to encourage others "to suck it up and just get over it". 4:12 PM

Right on Freder. You probably missed my kudos to you on the previous post about Imus.

Yes I am amazed at the lack of attention paid to this issue on this blog. The comments in the first post are 2-5 times more than the other posts in the past few days. But there is a long post on American Idol?

This issue has caused a lot of controversy, has sparked comments about women's issues, race issues, the role of media, etc...

But nothing here, move along, its boring, why are people still talking about it.Yeah well good for you, it wasn't your mother or sister or daughter that was called a 'ho' on TV. Just some black girls that need to be tough and not be so offended when they are called nasty names on TV.I guess these are the same people that blow a gasket when someone calls Bush a liar.(which he is)Can't the commander-in-chief suck it up and deal with a little name calling?

It is a choice to be a victim in this case and I think we would all applaud any one of these ladies if just one of them were to speak their mind and tell off Imus in the words he deserves.

Yeah right! I'm sure if Atrios or Kevin Drum (she wishes she could be victimized up like that) called Ann a "tow-headed ho" on their blog and she was named Eschaton's "Wanker of the Day", we wouldn't hear about it for a month of posts about how much Democrats and the left wing hates her and how mean and uncivil they are and what bad people they are because they use such bad language.

Right on Freder. You probably missed my kudos to you on the previous post about Imus.

Yeah well, even Ann couldn't spare a kind word for me. All she could do was get all bent out of shape because I pointed out that she didn't seem all that concerned about this.

Although this is apparently her definitive statement on the issue:

"Free speech and racial politics have been big subjects for me. In this post, I'm pointedly not writing about what it seems as though I would write about. That non-writing means something that I wanted to say."

This issue has caused a lot of controversy, has sparked comments about women's issues, race issues, the role of media, etc...

But nothing here, move along, its boring, why are people still talking about it.

It might be worth discussing why people are determined to take a shock jock's racially insensitive remark and spin it into a Major Issue of the Day.

But beyond that, it is most definitely a boring and uninteresting story. Gosh golly gee, a jackass whose career is built on offending people is being roundly condemned by jackasses whose careers are built on being offended? Color me totally surprised by this turn of events.

The Imus story matters only in this teeny way: Where has everybody been? This cretin always says things like "nappy-headed ho," if not those words exactly.

He's not Howard Stern, using foul language and epithets to achieve a calculated effect. He's just a cranky, tired old bigot. A local radio station in LA played his show for a few years and I couldn't figure out why anybody listened to it, or why anybody with a reputation bothered to appear on it as a guest.

About half the show is Imus selling his various products. Which then allowed him to talk about his favorite charity, his own ranch where he hosts a few kids with cancer. The rest of the time you had NBC news celebrities and aspiring presidential candidates sucking up to the "I-Man" as if by sucking up, they would seem "cool."

If you were of a mind to destroy the reputations of Tim Russert, David Gregory, Jim Miklasevski, Andrea Mitchell, John McCain, John Kerry and several other luminaries, all you'd have to do is find tape of their awful, obsequious Imus appearances, and put them side by side with the ugly rants that fill the rest of his show.

Maybe a lot of the black culture does not use these terms but I can tell you for sure that here in Queens, NYC the black culture not only uses those terms openly on the street but they also bombard us with that horrible rap crap on the huge speakers in their cars. You even hear it on the subways. What absolute junk! I would really love to see someone go up to the mother or the girl friend of some of these people and just quote the words to those CD's. They would be lucky to live!!

And for Sharpton of all people to complain about race!! The man has made his whole living by playing one race card after another to the detriment of a lot of people. Koreans buy a market in a black neighborhood because none of the blacks seem to want to run the store; a black woman comes in and shoplifts from the store; an old Korean woman complains and stops her; up comes Sharpton and his hired riot crew and picket the store for a year. A white man has a clothing store on 125th St; Sharpton complains that a white man has a store in a black neighborhood where blacks could have put up stores all along; Sharpton's crew sets fire to the store and 8 people die. And let us not forget Tawana Brawley of 20+ years ago; Sharpton claims that the county officials raped and defecated on this teenager; finally the courts determine that it is all crap and never happened and Sharpton has to pay a big fine; he has yet to pay the fine but he surely did a good job of ruining the reputation of a few people in upstate New York who did nothing at all and he has yet to apologize for that. Now tell us again about Imus and his comments and compare and contrast with that idiot Sharpton as to which is the racist.

I will note that none of the Democratic prosecutors the local paper has talked to -- former state DA Peg Lautenschlager, current county DA Brian Blanchard, and one other (name escapes me at the moment) -- are suspicious of Biskupic's motives. They all say he's a good prosecutor. Thompson's attorney is also pretty close-mouthed re: motives, which is nice to hear as there was lots of unfounded speculation on Thompson's motives during the trial.

Perhaps Biskupic made a bad decision based on the facts, or was overly aggressive; In the atmosphere surrounding the Justice Dept these days, things look far more conspiratorial than they are.